Old Dragon Lady At Chiang Mai Immigration

That time of year again have to drag myself out of bed super early to go to the Chiang Mai Immigration office to get my Visa renewed for another year. This is now my 3rd year of an Ed Visa (Education) so it being my 3rd year of learning Thai I thought there would be questions asked or otherwise but instead I had this old dragon who completely lost it.

I get to the immigration office at 7am and I was the tenth person there, the first person a Thai lady was there first and she said she arrived at about 6:20am keep in mind they don't start serving numbers until about 9am. After a long wait as usual get my ticket and try to find a seat I yet again saw someone who didn't know what they were talking about. A young fellow English maybe asked this guy beside him how to get his name on the list (this is after the guy is already reading them out) he told the young fellow that he needed to go on the Chiang Mai immigration website and put his name there. If you havn't seen the website check it here. He even told the guy that he's put his name on their before to get his name in the book. I've never seen the immigration website work ever! The guy was probably just saying it so he could push in lol. I think it worked the young guy quickly left.

I was number 4 on the line and when I got called went straight to the desk of the immigration officer (if that's her job title at all) and sat their quietly just saying yes to any question she asked me. I could already tell this lady was a total bitch but hey I've never seen immigration officers in any country be at all friendly it's either the training or they only recruit total c*nts to work for them.

So she's saying sign here sign there blah blah blah, stamps the documents everything is in order even get a glimpse of a smile when she sees the report card from the school I go to like perhaps many schools don't even include it? Not sure. Then she says (all in English) that it'll all good but points to the paper for the 90 day report and says I should come 2 weeks before that date. (huh?). So I'm looking confused wondering why she would tell me to come 2 weeks before the date and she asks do you understand? I said I'm confused.

Boooommm.

In an overly loud voice she calls to the guy at the next desk (last time it was with him he was ok) and says "แมงพูดดีๆก็ไม่เข้าใจอีก Geez I said it clearly and he still doesn't understand". So then staring right at me get's in my face and doubles the tone of her voice yet again and says "You come here before 2 weeks this date so you don't come often understand?".

I felt like saying "No you dip I don't understand and stop yelling at me b*tch!"

Obviously I'm here for a visa renewal and yelling back at a immigration officer would be just a really stupid thing to do I tried to keep cool. So for the first time I spoke Thai and simply asked "I still don't understand why you want me to come back 2 weeks before the date". This time I'm hoping she'll just speak Thai so I can actually understand what she's trying to tell me but that would be asking too much. First she says in Thai "ไรๆของมันไม่เข้าใจอีก what the hell is with this guy still doesn't understand".

Apparently it's OK for an Immigration officer at Chiang Mai Immigration to only speak Thai when they are telling off the Farang but otherwise speak English. So she repeats the same thing again in English as if I'm slow but now I'll get it and still the sentence she says doesn't make any sense and so when she asks yet again if I understand I say NO. In an even louder voice she is like almost screaming at me this time says in Thai "มาก่อน2อาทิตย์จะได้ไม่ต้องมาบ่อยจะได้ไม่ต่องเสียค่าปรัปถ้ามาช้า ".

This still makes no bloody sense and with a still very puzzled look on my face she says "มาหรือไม่มาแล้วแต่คุณเทอะ Come before or don't come it's up to you".

At this point I could care less what she is saying because I'm feeling very agitated by her yelling at me that I just want to leave before I scream back at dragon lady. I say "OK thank you". With a huff and a puff she tells me to wait outside for my passport.

So I get home and look at my passport to figure out what the hell she was talking about and on the Receipt of Notification she stamped the date at the top 18 May and on the stamp that reads "Please notify your address again" part she stamped 12 May. So what she was trying to tell me is she made a mistake on the stamps and to make sure I come before the date of the one she stamped properly. She didn't yell that out now did she!

On another note last year when I did this visa renewal thing they made me wait in a seperate area before some guy asked to talk to me and check my passport. He asked questions about why I was studying and how much I've studied but it seems that didn't happen this time or only sometimes. Maybe I got their on a lucky day because that process added another hour to the ordeal. They really are swamped down there and obviously need some help so people like dragon lady can work on her customer service.

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About Chris

Chris founded LivingThai.org in 2011 and has received over 3 million visitors. In 2017 he stopped writing new content (although does update the site) and is now focused on writing for his new website SlyNomad.com.

7 Responses to Old Dragon Lady At Chiang Mai Immigration

With the VISA renewal last year, did the guy ask you questions in Thai or in English. Essentially, was it a Thai language test? Also, my 1 experience with the Jomtien/Chonburi immigration (to get a certificate of residency to be able to register a bike in my own name), was easy although I did have a thai friend go with me and the immigration people only talked to him (like maybe 5 words). 1:30pm on a Wednesday and I waited maybe 5 minutes with no appointment. I am certain that other tasks like VISA renewal etc, would have taken much longer.

Hey Chris,
I think this part “she made a mistake on the stamps” explains why she was yelling at you. Its that Thai thing of never admitting you made a mistake and to make others look dumb for your mistake.

The reason that changed the way I looked at Thailand, and put me off staying, it has the same c@nts in government, as we do in the west.One day I,ll find freedom from these c@nts, and when I wont tell anyone where it is.

I call mine the Nazi Visa Bee-yatch. I am assuming that this is the first time that she has had any control, or power, over anyone in her life. My wife makes sure that all my papers are in order, which makes it all the more irritating when this pompous bitch decides to waste hours of my time with useless prattle, or tries to double charge me for things. I just try to remind myself that as many Thais have absolutely no control over anything important in their lives, or the common sense to deal with it if they did, that they over compensate by riding herd over anyone they can.

It’s like when the cops stand out in the road with their whistles. They will constantly blow that damn thing, regardless of the fact that there isn’t a car within half a kilometer of them, just to let everyone know that they have achieved a position of some authority. Or, so they think.

Reading your story Chris it seems there was miscommunication.
Dragon Lady was asking if you understood she wanted you to return 2 weeks early.
Yes, you did infact understand what she was saying, but repeatedly told her you didn’t, hence her thinking you were stupid and her getting annoyed.

What you didn’t understand was “why” she requested this early return. A seperate thing.

I have found that asking a Thai “why”? is usually met with silence and a blank look. The word does not seem to compute.

I think that the imigration authority should by now have the variouse items sorted out and eliminate all the time that is wasted , I personally went for my one year renewallhaving been the week before to find out what is required , and only to find that when all the papers were examined they required yet another copy on A4 of my marriage certificate , My certificate was a very long one which they would not accept , so this is an example of the stupidity of the imigration authority and the seriouse time that is wasted let alone the waste of paper where does it all go to?
The whole set up is rediculouse as the department is not at all large enough to acomodate the vast numbers the car Park is inadequate Oh well This is TIT.